The Albemarle County Planning Commission held a
meeting and a public hearing on Tuesday, March 7, 2006, at 6:00 p.m., at the
County Office Building 5th Street, Room A, 1600 5th
Street, Charlottesville, Virginia. Members attending were Eric Strucko, Jon
Cannon, Calvin Morris, Vice-Chairman, Pete Craddock; Jo Higgins and Marcia
Joseph, Chairman. Bill Edgerton was absent. Julia Monteith, Senior Land Use
Planner for the University of Virginia, representative for David J. Neuman, FAIA,
Architect for University of Virginia was present.

LOCATION: Tax Map and Parcels
90-5, 90-6D (portion), 90-17D, 90-A-3, 90-A1-1, 90-A1-1E, 90-15A, 90A-1A,
90A-1B, and 90A-1C. Between the east side of Old Lynchburg Road and the west
side of Route 20; adjacent and to the south of the Mill Creek subdivision,
adjacent and to the west of the intersection of Avon Street, Extended and Route
20.

MAGISTERIAL DISTRICT:
Scottsville

STAFF: Claudette Grant

Ms. Joseph welcomed everyone to the informational
session on the Biscuit Run proposed development, which had been incorrectly
advertised as a work session. A series of work sessions will be held on this
request by the Planning Commission after this meeting. The public will be
invited to attend, but at that point there will be no public comment. She
invited members of the public to contact the Planning Commissioners through
email at
planningcommission@albemarle.org if they had any further questions or
concerns. The important thing is that no decision will be made tonight. First,
staff will give the staff report and then the applicant will give a power point
presentation. After that the Commission will open the meeting up for public
comment. Each individual will get 3 minutes to speak.

Claudette Grant presented the staff report with a
power point presentation that showed the features of the property.

·The purpose of tonight’s meeting is to
provide information, familiarize the public about the Biscuit Run proposal and
to allow an opportunity for public comment. No analysis will be given this
evening. Additional work sessions will be forthcoming with more detailed
analysis. No action will be taken tonight.

·The applicant is requesting to rezone
920 acres from R-1 and R-2 and RA to Neighborhood Model District. This request
is currently being reviewed by staff. This request consists of approximately
2,500 to 4,970 residential units and 3 neighborhood centers, which would include
commercial office and community uses.

·This proposal is large and staff would
like to focus on the following important items:

oEnvironmental items – The site is
largely wooded and vacant with very little development. There are many areas of
critical slopes, which are slopes in excess of 25 percent. There are several
streams and tributaries located on this site. The main stream is Biscuit Run.
These streams are of significant importance to the local water shed. There are
floodplain and wetland areas as well. There will be some disturbance of some of
these important resources. For example, the applicant has applied for three
special use permits related to stream crossings and fill in the floodplain. The
applicant is working with staff regarding low impact development options that
may minimize impacts to the water shed areas on the site.

oTransportation – The applicant and
staff are currently working on the scope of the traffic impact analysis. Staff
will know more and will be able to discuss this later once the study is
completed and analyzed. Staff, VDOT and the applicant will be analyzing some
city streets and intersections. There are two access points to this development
off of Route 20. There are 3 access points off of Old Lynchburg Road. The
north/south road located on the site shows the potential for a future connection
to the rural areas in the southern portion of the site. No connections to Mill
Creek are proposed. The applicant will be working with staff regarding transit
or other development options that may reduce traffic impacts.

oOne of the descriptions used on the
Biscuit Run plan is transect zones, which correspond to various colors in
density. For example, the T-3 zone is the yellow areas on the map. These
proposed areas have proposed uses of single-family detached rental units. These
areas depict the lowest density within the development. The density of these
yellow areas is 4.5 units per acre. The T-4 zone is the orange colored area and
provides a medium level of density and a variety of housing types with 6 to 12
dwelling units per acre. The last zone is the T-5 that is colored purple and
maroon and is the densest areas in the development and consists of a variety of
uses from various residential uses to retail and office uses.

oThe plan shows trails throughout the
site as well as pocket parks and a large park as previously mentioned. These
parks would include sports fields, playgrounds, benches and a variety of other
recreational needs.

oThe applicant is having a Phase 1
Archaeological Assessment Study completed because information from the state
indicates the presence of sites with historic or archaeological importance
located on the property.

oFor those persons who wish to track
current development or wish to send in comments they can go to the County
website at
www.albemarle.org. On the first page to the right there are links to the
County’s A-Mail System and to current development updates. Staff encourages the
public to use this as one of a variety of ways to communicate with us. If there
are any questions, she would be happy to answer them. Also, the applicant has a
presentation as well. The schedule for future work sessions will be discussed
at the end.

Steve Blaine, representative for the applicant
Forest Lodge LLC, said that they appreciate the opportunity to address the
Commission tonight. Their development group includes Timmons Engineering.
Scott Collins and Mr. Moser are present. They submitted a rezoning application
in September. He wanted to talk tonight about the schedule, process, the fill
in and the development opportunities for this project. They have talked to over
200 people since they started this project, including the homeowners in Mill
Creek South. He described the applicant’s proposal using a power point
presentation to display the features of the property. He wanted to show some
illustrations to elaborate a little bit on the vision. He described the process
that the applicant is following in the rezoning proposal noting that the process
was just beginning. This is unusual in this context to receive input in this
public forum, but they find it beneficial. The plan tonight is by no means a
final plan. They view this as a collaborative process and are looking forward
to working with the Planning Commission through these work sessions and fully
expect that the public will be witnessing and participating along the way. They
envision having a series of work sessions. They are going to take this project
little bits at a time by talking about the planning principles and the parts
that he thinks are most exciting about this project and the planning
opportunities that this project has.

Mr. Blaine highlighted the various areas of the site
and the various uses proposed. He said that the ultimate development plans for
the rest of the property have not been decided, but commercial office use and
residential use are being considered. They will try to concentrate and direct
the growth in the urban area and growth area as called for in the Comprehensive
Plan. This project provides a higher density to really implement the
Comprehensive Plan’s goal of directing new land development into the growth
areas. He stressed that the applicant wants to create a development using the
principles of the Neighborhood Model. The developer is willing to donate 92
acres for a neighborhood park with an opportunity to provide a trail system for
the community as a whole to enjoy. They think that it may be viable to connect
this to the Rivanna Trail System and allow for bicycle and pedestrian access not
just within the neighborhood, but interconnecting with other neighborhoods. The
Capital Improvement Plan for the School District identifies this area as needing
an elementary school by 2011. The CIP budget savings for this proffer would be
approximately 2 million dollars, which the development would contribute to the
community.

Mr. Blaine continued regarding infrastructure and
the existing road networks that there are very few projects where the residents
of the community will have access to two major links to the city, which is Route
20 and Old Lynchburg Road. It will be located less than a mile from the
intersection of I-64. The utilities and infrastructure are already there. The
Albemarle County Sewer Authority has sewer lines already in place actually
within the project boundaries. There is an existing water line that is being
extended down Avon Street. There will be a water tank with sufficient capacity
installed at the development of the Avon Park project on Avon Street. They will
have schools right at their door step. Monticello High School is a new high
school in the area. The Covenant School is located close to the project. They
are less than 3 miles from the major employment centers. The community will
take advantage of this infrastructure. They will promote the Neighborhood Model
principles. The developer has pledged to proffer that there will be a 15 percent
affordable housing option within this community. The housing types will include
single-family, as well as townhouses and multi-family. The architecture for
this project will be strictly regulated by what is called a Code of Development,
which will be filed with the rezoning application. It will contain requirements
for setback, relegated parking and a strict set of architectural guidelines.
There will be neighborhood type streets with an emphasis on sidewalks and street
trees. Regarding the traffic study, he noted that it was being worked on and
would probably be the most expensive traffic study done in Albemarle County. He
completed the power point presentation on the proposed development. He
reiterated that this was just the beginning of a process. They have circulated
an informational brochure that has his contact information on the back. He
asked everyone to feel free to contact him or any member of their development
team with comments and questions. They look forward to working with everyone on
this site proposal.

Ms. Joseph invited public comment.

Jeanne Chase, Secretary of The Fry’s Spring
Neighborhood Association, submitted a letter from the Association to the
Planning Commission and County Staff. She read the letter into the record. As
the Board representing perhaps the largest neighborhood association in the City
of Charlottesville and the one that will be the most affected by the development
in Albemarle County south of the City they have become increasingly alarmed by
the threats to the quality of life in our lovely and historic neighborhood.
While we do not deny the need or right of the continued development on the
perimeters of our neighborhood, we do ask that the development be thoughtful and
respectful to the neighborhood and the people who live, work, play and travel
there. Almost daily they see green space around us diminishing and our streets
becoming more unsafe due to increased (and often speeding) traffic volume that
now more than ever uses streets such as Old Lynchburg Road and Jefferson Park
Avenue Extended that were not designed to carry cars, bikes and pedestrians in
such volumes. This is regularly occurring with little to no improvements for
pedestrians. Often our children walk, run and bike in our streets due to lack
of proper infrastructure, sidewalks, crosswalks, crossings, etc. With the
proposed development of the Biscuit Run property and eventually the Granger
property, we anticipate a doubling or tripling of the traffic on roads in our
neighborhoods coming in from Albemarle County. We are asking that the members of
the Albemarle Planning Commission work together with their counterparts in the
City of Charlottesville and the University of Virginia to hasten the building of
the Southern Connector that would extend from 5th Street Extended
through to the Fontaine Research Park as recommended in the Area B Study. We
would also ask that Albemarle County, the City of Charlottesville and the
University of Virginia work together to seek the proffers and means that would
assist in construction of the Southern Connector that would extend from Fifth
Street Extended through to the Fontaine Research Park as recommended in the Area
B Study. They would also ask that Albemarle County, the City of Charlottesville
and the University of Virginia work together to seek the proffers and means that
would assist in the construction of the Southern Connector and in improving the
safety of the roads leading into the city for cars, pedestrians and bicyclists.
They ask for the Commission’s help in keeping our neighborhood issues in mind as
they are planning for this additional growth that will ultimately affect all of
us. This letter was signed by John Santoski, President Fry’s Spring
Neighborhood Association with the signatures of Jeanne Chase, Jack Gwynn, Ellen
Catalano, Joe and Betty Mooney, Adrienne Dent, Peter Hedlund, Rebecca Sims,
Andrea Wieder and Robert Archer. She pointed out that the letter can be found
at the website of
http://avenue.org/fsna. In changing her hat from the secretary of the Fry’s
Spring Neighborhood Association, at that same website a letter can be found that
she wrote on November 29, to this Commission with copies sent to the City and to
the University of Virginia relative to the observations that she as a homeowner
with her husband on Old Lynchburg have had first hand experience for 29 years.
She asked all persons present in agreement with John Santoski’s letter to
stand.

Joseph Greenberg, resident of Mill Creek South,
spoke in opposition to the request. He felt that the bigger issue was growth in
general. He acknowledged that growth will happen, but it will continue until
there are so many houses that people will lose their quality of life and then
move somewhere else. That is not a desirable way to do it. Now they are trying
to plan this growth. The developers will make their money up front when people
buy the houses, then they move on and develop somewhere else. There is another
cost with maintaining the infrastructure for this growth. The biggest
infrastructure he sees is the water. A few years ago they were running out of
water in Charlottesville during the drought. He felt that water was a huge
issue and adding houses makes the problem worse. Therefore, that issue has to
be addressed. Road infrastructure is another problem. With the addition of
5,000 homes there would be 10,000 more cars using Route 20 or Old Lynchburg Road
creating traffic problems. The growth in the schools is another issue to be
considered

Richard Hewitt, resident of area for 4 years, shared
the concerns of everyone else present and was opposed to the development. He
pointed out that there is an additional 200 acres that is owned by Forest Lodge
on the north side of the road, which is prepared to go on the market in about 60
days, which is zoned R-4. That adds the possibility of 800 additional houses or
more if they get the Neighborhood Model zoning across the road from Biscuit
Run. He felt that the proposed development had too much density, not enough
water and would negatively impact traffic into the city.

Doug Arrington said that there does not seem to have
been much attention paid to the impact on Old Lynchburg Road. As the previous
speaker indicated, there are other developments that will be going on. One
point in particular on Old Lynchburg Road is Singleton Lane north to where the
four lanes start. It is a very curvy area and a lot of people over drive it.
He questioned how Mosby Mountain was developed without any consideration to the
impact of Old Lynchburg Road. He would appreciate if the Commission and Board
would take that section of Old Lynchburg Road into consideration when they are
looking at this project.

Peter Dumct, resident of Stoney Creek Drive for 9 ½
years, asked the Commission to carefully weigh the gains and losses that will
result from the rezoning request. He was curious about what would be allowed
without the rezoning. He complimented Mr. Blaine for what he has done and asked
him to continue down that path. Many of his concerns had already been
addressed. It is a congested road and the traffic is increasing day by day. In
conclusion, he hoped the development will enhance their quality of life. He
supported the project to move forward.

Joseph Dotly, M.C.S. consulting engineer, said that
he had been involved with City applications in many states and has some real
concerns about the proposed development and its impacts on the area.

Tom Olivia, resident in the Scottsville District for
the last 25 years, said that the scale of the development would cause a
significant impact on the traffic and have a fiscal impact on the entire
community.

Kathy Cassidy, resident of Redfields, asked that the
County stop approving developments haphazardly.

The following citizens expressed concerns about the
potential impacts from the proposed development on the road systems, water
supply, environmental degradation, etc.:

ØMargaret Weeks;

ØJoe Anto, President of Mill Creek S.
Association;

ØGwen Lackly, member of Lake Reynovia
Homeowner’s Association,

ØEd Rivers, resident of Mill Creek;

ØRichard Burton said that he grew up on
Old Lynchburg Road and the road system is grossly overloaded.

ØCarol Herrick, of Lake Reynovia;

ØSteve Collette, member of the School
Board,

ØJeff Werner, representative for
Piedmont Environmental Council;

ØHarold Showalter;

ØEric Cranzen (noted that this area
needs a master plan);

ØTom False, a member of CHART- MPO Tech
Committee;

ØDoug Horwith (quality of life issue);

Ms. Joseph said that they would go around and hear
concerns from the City Council members and other officials seated at the tables.

Lewis Sherry, City Council member, said that City
residents are concerned about the traffic impact that that the proposed
development would have. She was present just to listen.

Barry Clark, Town Administrator of Scottsville, said
that he received the plan about 1 week ago. His biggest concern was the
transportation issues and access points.

Bill Lucy, City Planning Commissioner, said he was
present to listen and learn.

Mr. Fink, City Planning Commissioner, said that
there would be a 10 to 20 percent increase necessary in the infrastructure.
There are intersections in the City that will be affected.

Cal Morris, Eric Strucko, Jo Higgins, Pete Craddock,
Jon Cannon and Marcia Joseph, Albemarle County Planning Commissioners, expressed
concerns about the effect of the proposed subdivision on the existing area and
infrastructure.

Julia Monteith, Senior Land Use Planner for the
University of Virginia, representative for David J. Neuman, FAIA, Architect for
University of Virginia said that all comments were good and helpful. She
suggested that they add to the transportation plan traffic analysis. She would
also like to hear more about the transit opportunities.

Ms. Higgins left the meeting at 7:57 p.m.

The Planning Commission took at
ten minutes break at 7:57 p.m.

The meeting reconvened at 8:08
p.m.

In summary,
the Planning Commission held an information session on ZMA-2005-017, Biscuit Run
(formerly Fox Ridge). In addition to the County Planning Commission, three City
Commissioners and the Scottsville Town Administrator were in attendance. The
development proposal was presented by staff and the applicant with power point
presentations. The Commission reviewed and discussed the proposal with staff and
the applicant, and received public comment. The Planning Commission and other
officials present provided comments and suggestions. No formal action was
taken.

Ms. Joseph said that a series of work sessions will
be held on this request by the Planning Commission after this meeting. The
public will be invited to attend, but at that point there will be no public
comment. She invited members of the public to contact the Planning
Commissioners through email at
planningcommission@albemarle.org if they had any further questions or
concerns.

Staff asked the Commission to
address the proposed work session schedule and dates for the Biscuit Run
Rezoning.

The Commission reviewed staff’s proposed work
session schedule. The Commission was in agreement with the first two dates as
proposed, but expressed several concerns about the items that they are going to
be addressing. The following comments and suggestions were discussed:

oWork session #1
should focus on the bigger picture items and whether the proposal fits in with
the Comprehensive Plan. Items such as relegated parking, density and buildings
of human scale should come later in the process. A question that needs to be
answered is how this relates to the future of the county and the transportation
system?

oWork session #2
should focus on transportation matters. It is important that the transportation
study is done prior to this discussion. Mr. Blaine indicated that he did not
think the traffic study would be completed by the April 18 date. He suggested
that the Commission begin talking about the more general transportation issues
and get an update on the scope and understanding of the study process. He
suggested that they keep that date, but not expect that they will tackle the
transportation study at that work session. Once the transportation study comes
in it may require additional work sessions after May 9.

oIt was questioned
whether the five items in the March 21 work session or the four items in the May
9 work session could be handled in one session.

oIt was suggested
that they would first want to look at the larger systems at the same time. (For
instance, the transportation, the historic resources and the environmental
issues.) Afterwards they would go down to the smaller grain things.

oGeneral public
comment will not be taken at future work sessions.

oSeveral
requests were made to change the order of discussion items and to group them
together by topic.

oThe Commission
asked for an email outlining all of the previous planning for this area that has
been done. Staff indicated that would be included in the staff report for March
21.

oThe discussion
should include what growth would be allowed by right versus what would be
allowed by the rezoning.

oThe City and Town
of Scottsville Planning Commission will be given notice and invited to the
future work sessions, particularly for the transportation discussion. It was
discussed whether they would be active members of the discussion.

oIt was concluded
that two work sessions, March 21 and April 18, will be scheduled at this time
and additional work sessions will be identified and scheduled after the March 21
work session.

Staff pointed out that the next
work session would be held on March 21 in room 241.